Trials of the Earth

May 2, 2016
This compelling, no-frills posthumous memoir from Hamilton (1866–1936) reveals the hidden nature of late 19th-century American life through the joys and heartbreak of homesteading in the Mississippi Delta. The manuscript was originally submitted to Little, Brown in 1933; the publisher passed on it before purchasing the rights from Hamilton’s descendants for a new version in 2015. Hamilton wasn’t famous, nor did she wield political or social power; her experiences attest to the considerable contributions average women made to the settlement of the U.S. Around 1883, Mary’s father moved the family to Sedgwick, Ark., which boasted a sawmill and a railroad. After he died, Mary’s brothers found work at the mill while she and her sisters helped their mother turn their home into a boardinghouse. She married Frank Hamilton, a handsome, mysterious English immigrant who worked for the railroad and the sawmill, but the marriage did little to improve her circumstances: Frank drank and was accident-prone, several of their children died young, and money was tight. So Mary continued working after the Hamiltons carved out their own homestead in the Delta. Mary’s unsentimental story crackles with personality, putting a face on the unsung, nameless tillers of the soil.

April 15, 2016

Toward the end of her years, Hamilton (1866-1936) was encouraged to pen her memoirs by a family friend. As a pioneer whose life took her from her birthplace in Illinois to the remote corners of Arkansas, Missouri, and Mississippi, the author had a unique story to tell. She ran boardinghouses or served as a cook while her husband, Frank, worked at bookkeeping and ran timber mills and logging camps. Her existence wasn't an easy one--tragedy and accident took the lives of several of her children, and her relationship with Frank was often shrouded in misgiving and mystery. Frank kept his past closely guarded, even from his wife and children, and he took the secrets of his English gentry family with him to the grave. Through it all, Hamilton seemed to maintain a positive spirit and faced every hardship with grit and determination. VERDICT The author's descriptions of both her joys and griefs will keep readers turning the page to find out what happens next. Her book will appeal to anyone with an interest in biography, U.S. history, women's history, and the settlement of the Mississippi Delta.--Crystal Goldman, Univ. of California, San Diego Lib.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2016
From the vantage point of 150 years later, this vivid account of a pioneer woman's true-life adventures in the swamps and forests of the Mississippi Delta seems almost cinematic in scope. Yet her first-person narrative engenders an intimacy and an immediacy that draws the reader right into the hardscrabble minutiae of the daily struggle for survival on an untamed and unforgiving frontier. Hamilton (18661936) endured floods, tornadoes, fires, and multiple personal tragedies, including the deaths of several children. Urged to write her memoirs near the end of her days, she recalled her enigmatic husband, the lumber camps they toiled in, and their endless efforts to tame the wilderness and settle into a place to call home. Finally published, thanks to her descendants, 83 years after its completion and submission to a writers' competition put on by the publisher, Little, Brown, Hamilton's rich personal tapestry is a testament to endurance and to the indomitable spirit of the often overlooked American pioneer woman.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)